Where WE (mom and dad that is) at- six months

Guest contributor on this blog at the bottom.  So, it is a long one. Enjoy!  

We don't seem to have any pictures of Chip and I...so I will continue to inundate you with pictures of Owen and Ruby instead.  I just love their expressions here.  AND, notice, they are both sitting on their own!

As promised (to myself more than anything), here are some details about how Chip and I are doing six months post Ruby and Owen entering our lives.  In general, this has been the most intense and consuming, and satisfying thing I have ever done.  I guess I knew it would be...but never imagined it like this.  There has been intense love and connection, and also intense loss of sleep, confusion, and frustration.  This is hard, people.

Trying to keep two babies happy and on some sort of schedule requires constant planning, thinking ahead, trying to predict the unpredictable, and more hands and arms than I usually have.   It also means being ready to never get a break.  On one hand I am glad they don't often cry at the same time, and that they take turns with many things like having difficulty sleeping, eating, or needing special attention.  And on the other hand, just when you think you have got a minute to take a deep breath, you don't.  I guess the evenings, after they go to bed,  has been our one moment to regroup (and do things like work on the blog:).  That has been nice. We have done a pretty good job actually, I think, of establishing a routine and schedule that work for us...but somehow I constantly feel like we are existing on the verge of disaster at any moment.  I need to work on this because it takes away from the fun factor for me sometimes.  However, nonetheless, we are loving these two little additions to pieces.  They have such endearing personalities, both as individuals and as a pair.  I feel very lucky...fortunate...to be able to stay home and spend my days with them.

Physically, I am still recovering...not from the c-section or anything, more from trying to breast feed.  I was eating so much, thinking a lack of calories was contributing to my supply problems, that I just didn't get my body back as quickly as I expected to.  Just last week,while shopping with a friend, I was congratulated on my pregnancy....Ha!  At least she said I was cute.  So, yeah.  This is tough for me.  But, as of a few months ago, I have been better about getting out, working out, etc. and eating more normally.  So, hopefully this will eventually pay off.

Emotionally, it depends on the day and the moment.  It is a rollercoaster sometimes.  I love being home and being mom and there is nothing else I would rather do right now.  But still,  I am challenged emotionally more often than I wish were the case.  I think it is the cumulative sleep deprivation.  I don't feel tired during the day no matter how many interruptions there were during the night or how few hours I actually slept.  I wish I did, so I could nap when the kids do... like all the books and websites say to.  Instead, I get moody, sensitive, and my self confidence wanes.  Thankfully, all it takes is a better night's sleep and I feel closer to myself again.  Also, loneliness is a passenger on this journey that I wish would take a hike.  He joins me way too often.  I am such a social person and I think underestimated how important being out in the world, having coworkers, etc. was for me. And still, I haven't started looking for work.  The pull to be with Ruby and Owen is greater than I ever thought it could be and is worth whatever it is I am struggling with.  Thank goodness for our amazing community of friends and family, who visit, call, write, and hang out with us.  I love you all! Otherwise,  I mostly want to eat Ruby, Owen, and Chip up sometimes I love them so much.  And, despite some ups and downs, this feeling only seems to get greater every day.

Chip has been amazing as I have mentioned before.  He works an intense job...probably the only one I can think of that can top whatever crazy story I have about being home with twin babies.  It is good.  Puts my stress in perspective sometimes. :) And, somehow he comes home with energy to hold and play with Ruby and Owen, do house projects, do errands with me, and gets out skiing or mountain biking most days he is off.  I could give you more details, but maybe he will have to weigh in here himself and give more details about his thoughts and feelings at this point.

I told you he is amazing...as I feed and change babies, he is in the kitchen whipping this up for breakfast.  Hel-lo!

And, he remembers to take pictures of something other than our kids.  This is an amazing shot from just up the street.  The wildflowers in our yard and neighborhood are going OFF right now.

These are two outfits that MY twin brother and sister wore in the late 70s.  (Pink must have been more acceptable for boys back then- see trim and birdie playing tennis on his outfit) Awesome, eh?  My mom actually held onto quite a few little numbers.  Hopefully Ruby and Owen will get to try them on their children some day.

One of the things we love most about our new house, is the front porch.  We have been playing out on it ever since it has been warm enough.   We also are loving the sandbox that the previous owners left us.  Ruby and Owen have eaten their fair share of sand already.  Staying on top of keeping things out of two babies mouths is really difficult.  It is like they are working together to get me to look away so they can steal another bite of the grimy stuff!

Some days I just can't wait for OT and Ruster to be walking...and napping less often, freeing our schedule up a bit for getting out more. But, I know that with that stage will come new challenges (like chasing the two of them.  I am sure they will always run in the same direction-ha!) and I will miss this stage where they are so snugly and small and dependent.  So, I am doing my best to enjoy each day along the way.  That is one thing I have realized about babies...they have forced me to live in the moment unlike I ever have.  Thanks for that, Ruby and Owen.  This is only one small example of how you have changed me already.

Chip weighing in: Life is good, kids are amazing, I am loving the job, even in it's crazier moments. Unlike my PA student blog and my sharing of stories on a daily basis from life in the clinics and hospitals, this seems different. I am a more permanent part of a community here, and blogging about the woes of it's citizens for entertainment value has lost it's appeal. But nonetheless, people continue to fall off of everything imaginable, get stabbed in weird places, drink more 3.2 beer than one would think imaginable, and do utterly wild and idiotic things before winding up in the care of the Trauma Service. I am honored to be at their bedside in a critical moment of their lives. I come home tired....but then quickly realize my fatigue can in no way compete with that of the Twin Service.

And deserving of a paragraph of it's own is my amazement with my wife. She continues to be the most self-less and dedicated mother of these little bundles.  Her words above speak to her commitment. She is always looking out for Ruby and Owen's best interest. She is their number one advocate, and that is a difficult job, especially when things don't go as planned, when milk doesn't come in, when 3am finds you awake and running between two rooms, when the first moment to relax is met with a sink full of dirty bottles and laundry stacking up. (I'll take drunk, belligerent, dying patients any day).  But she continues to plug along, loving these kids with each and every cell in her body.  People say "Don't Stress, and Don't Worry......"   And to these people, I'd offer an invite to spend 24 hours shadowing the life of a twin Mom, who is dedicated, loving, feeding, cleaning, caring, wiping, playing, dressing, shopping, pumping, calming, burping, and any other verb with -ing at the end.  She is at the top of her game and a little stress rises to the surface as we continues to figure out this wild, wild ride. I can tell you that I would be completely lost in this wilderness of child-rearing without her.  The kids have been well documented in the previous months of blogging. I love the bugs more than I thought was possible, and I will leave it at that!